Frida Karlsson has been struggling with a foot injury during the first half of the season and has only competed on three occasions so far.
But when the World Cup returned to French Les Rousses after the Tour de Ski break, Karlsson was also back on the track.
However, it was not a successful comeback. The 25-year-old had trouble keeping up with the pace of the fastest skiers and finished in seventh place.
"Butterflies in my stomach"
I didn't have a great feeling today, so I don't know if I was a little nervous almost. Maybe I've been going around and tensing up a bit. It feels like I can't ski as energy-efficiently as I want, but instead I'm a bit tense. I've had a few butterflies in my stomach, she says in Viaplay and continues:
I worked with pretty numb legs. It's not a race I want to take with me, but just forget.
The fastest of all was Jessie Diggins, with a margin. The American was 38.2 seconds faster than Karlsson and 19.5 ahead of second-place finisher, German Victoria Carl. Third place went to Astrid Øyre Slind from Norway.
Near the season's first podium
Instead, it was Ebba Andersson who became the best Swedish skier, with a fifth-place finish. Andersson was long in a battle to grab the season's first podium, but didn't quite make it. The 27-year-old crossed the finish line 27 seconds after Diggins.
Moa Ilar finished in 13th place, Elina Rönnlund in 20th, and Evelina Crüsell became 25th.
